Back to School

Russian schools, empty and forsaken during the summer months, come back to life on September 1 with the start of a new school year. Hundreds of students pack the schoolyards, the halls and classrooms, filling the air with a buzz of agitated, young voices, recounting stories of their summer. Meanwhile, teachers sag under the weight of flowers received for the first day of school.

To pay tribute to the long-living tradition of official openings, the whole school gathers for a lineyka, a standing meeting with everyone lined up in the schoolyard. There will be a speech by the principal, and then another vital component: the symbolic first bell, jointly rung by a boy from a graduating class and a first-grade girl. This marks the start of a new school year, after which everyone retreats, reluctantly, to their classes to get down to work. 

In some ways, school traditions are little changed from Soviet times. In others the changes are dramatic.

Most noticeably, gone are red Pioneer ties and Komsomol and Oktyabryonok pins with a portrait of Lenin, as these organizations themselves have vanished. Besides being a sign of loyalty to communist ideas, the pins and ties were a modest, and oftentimes the only allowable, decoration for the drab school uniforms of the Soviet era. 

Those ugly uniforms – dark blue, poorly-made suits for boys and brown dresses with decorative apron, collar and cuffs for girls – were as hated by parents as they were by children. 

In 1992, uniforms stopped being obligatory; schools were allowed to decide for themselves what students would wear. Free to choose, kids began wearing crazy colors or fashions, leading to something of a backlash. Some schools reimplented uniforms, but fancier ones, sometimes resulting in outfits costlier than regular clothes. Most gymnasia and elite schools now have uniforms, most regular schools do not. Meanwhile, some 64 percent of Russians say they support a return to school uniforms, according VTsIOM. 

There is other experimentation. Some 30 state schools have split boys and girls into different classes, and many more schools – private, religious and Cossack institutions – teach just boys or girls. 

Another sign of the times is the student ID card. In the Soviet era, no one really fussed much about outsiders coming into schools. If anything, a pupil on duty, the dezhurny, would watch to make sure boys or girls had their smenka (spare pair of shoes), but not if they actually belonged to the school. In our time of terror attacks and heightened security, however, many schools have employed professional guards and given their pupils ID cards, which often also serve as free or reduced fare passes for public transport. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov announced that this year Moscow will introduce electronic student passes that will contain information about students’ school, their address and parents’ phone numbers.

Colorful backpacks have replaced dull briefcases and satchels, and students bring to school bright, fun stationary, not to mention cell phones, game stations and other gadgets. 

Even lunch has changed. Now Russian students eat pizza and burgers for lunch and drink Coca Cola, instead of a bun with milk or other limited-choice (but healthier) Soviet fare. In hopes to reverse the tide, the Russian Health Ministry is drafting a law that would forbid the sale of greasy foods and sugary drinks on school premises, but students only smirk at the plan.